Abstract
A spent fuel reprocessing site (SFRS) is under constructions on granitic beds in Northwest China. To safely manage the potential migration of nuclides, it is critical to accurately characterize the natural fracture system in the bedrock and accurately predict the variability in the geological environment. However, a workflow for site-scale discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling has not been fully established in China. Therefore, a new site-scale DFN modeling framework utilizing borehole core data as constraints was proposed for fractured biotite granite within several kilometers of the SFRS. This method quantified the P10 values of 227 pre-implemented engineering cores and obtained local P32 values using a conversion factor. Based on geostatistics, this method realized the fast estimation of global P32, a key parameter in DFN modeling, at minimal cost under a scenario with extremely limited outcrop data. Further, 1933 fractures obtained from extensive field mapping supplemented the fracture orientation and size information. By integrating the modeling parameters into the proposed framework, a site-scale DFN model database was successfully established. Finally, an acceptable site-scale DFN model was obtained from the database by comparing the measured and simulated P10 values, which demonstrated the effectiveness and feasibility of this method. Compared with the traditional DFN modeling, the proposed framework captured the heterogeneity of the fracture spatial intensity. The modeling results revealed the fracture distribution in the SFRS, and illustrated the broad potential applicability of this modeling framework in the field of geological engineering. This study provides a new insight for site-scale DFN modeling in China.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call